Mel Morris invests in software provider

East Midlands entrepreneur and Derby County FC owner Mel Morris has made a multimillion-pound investment into a London software provider.

Adthena has developed a platform for search marketers to acquire more customers by giving an insight into their competitors’ activities.

The £2m investment will enable the business to continue growing in the UK and Australia, and expand into Germany, the US and France.

As well as owning the Rams, Morris is also the former chairman of King.com, the company behind Candy Crush. The Derby-born Candy Crush tycoon moved up 34 places in the Sunday Times Rich List to joint 228th. According to the table of Britain’s top 1,000 wealthiest people, which was published in April 2016, Morris has increased his fortune by £100 million, to £500 million.

Morris said: “With search marketing spend making up on average 50 per cent of digital marketing spend, there is a clear market opportunity for Adthena with their patented technology to provide marketers with a unique ‘whole market view’.

“Adthena has proven market traction in the UK and Australia, with over 120 customers, and the investment will enable them to expand into new markets and exploit the $83bn search marketing opportunity.”

Ian O’Rourke, founder and chief executive of Adthena, added: “We’re delighted to welcome Mel on board to support our international expansion.

“He brings a brilliant and highly successful business mind to Adthena and invaluable experience. The investment will enable us to deliver our product in the largest paid search markets and build on our industry leading position.”

Adthena employs 30 staff in London and Australia. Its clients include Asda, Toyota and British Gas, and was positioned by TechWorld as one of the top 14 marketing (MarTech) and advertising tech (AdTech) startup in the UK.

Stay right up-to-date with TechSparx. Read East and West Midlands regional business technology news aggregated and also written by us, all in one place on TechSparx. Curated and brought to you by TechSparx.